National Legal Staffing Support Answers the Question: What Is Good Pre-Filing Analysis?

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">It is difficult to overstate the importance of thorough legal research and analysis&period; While important in all aspects of the law&comma; it is critical in <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;know-copyright-trademark&sol;">patent violation cases<&sol;a>&period; Sanctions with significant financial implications can result from failing to do pre-filing thoroughly&period; In this article&comma; National Legal Staffing Support examines how LPO can help get pre-filing work done correctly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">What is pre-filing analysis&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">To get the most out of patent protection&comma; a thorough pre-filing analysis is imperative&period; With the goal of determining the patentability of the proposed idea&comma; an exhaustive search for applicable prior art or design is crucial&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Changes after filing are generally not permitted&comma; so the filing’s success depends on how the product&comma; idea&comma; or art is depicted in the application&period; There is essentially one chance to get it right&comma; so the pre-filing stage should carry significant weight&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Analyzing for those patentable aspects or features that are of greatest value to the registered design is of the utmost importance&period; To accomplish this analysis&comma; an understanding of what elements are eligible for design protection must be clearly defined&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>What is the outcome of poorly performed pre-filing&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Failing to conduct a reasonable pre-filing inquiry is cause for a patent infringement case to be dismissed&period; Other possible sanctions include the requirement to pay the opposing party’s attorney’s fees&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">In the patent infringement case&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;law&period;justia&period;com&sol;cases&sol;federal&sol;appellate-courts&sol;F2&sol;921&sol;1247&sol;325310&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Refac Int’l&comma; Ltd&period; v&period; Hitachi Ltd<&sol;a>&period;&comma; the court held that the patent owner&comma; Refac&comma; failed to make a reasonable inquiry to determine that its complaint was well-grounded in fact&period; The court awarded the opposing party its attorney’s fees as a Rule 11 sanction&period; The court found that the plaintiff’s pre-filing investigation was inadequate where the plaintiff &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;assumed without justification that all of the accused products violated one or more of its patents but made no reasonable &lpar;or any&rpar; investigation to confirm this&period; &period; &period;&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>How LPO Can Help Get Legal Research Completed<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The process of legal research&comma; including patent pre-filing analysis&comma; can be long and tedious&period; Without staff trained and experienced in patent research&comma; there is an additional risk that something will be missed or misunderstood&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">One of the primary benefits of LPO is the flexibility of matching the right person to each task&period; From a pool of qualified legal researchers&comma; an experienced LPO firm can delegate the work to someone with experience in a similar case&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Without the resources of an LPO service provider&comma; a law firm may find itself in the unenviable position of assigning the work to an unqualified staff member&period; This can be an expensive mistake to make for two reasons&period; One&comma; without the flexibility provided by LPO a high-priced attorney better suited for trial work may&comma; out of necessity&comma; get stuck doing research&period; Two&comma; a mistake in the pre-filing analysis can trigger expensive sanctions in court&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Conclusion<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">As any experienced attorney will tell you&comma; the legal profession’s real work takes place in front of computer screens as researchers pour over documents looking for relevant information&period; In patent work&comma; this is especially true&period; Understanding the patentability of a product&comma; design&comma; art&comma; or invention is crucial&period; Knowing what makes such intellectual property patentable comes from experience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>About National Legal Staffing Support<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;nationallegalstaffsupport&period;com&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">National Legal Staffing Support is a leading provider of legal process outsourcing<&sol;a> and a pioneer in legal services&period; Located in Boca Raton&comma; Florida&comma; the company offers front- and back-office support to experienced consumer protection attorneys specializing in debt resolution&period; National Legal Staffing Support offers paralegal services&comma; document management solutions&comma; pre-litigation support&comma; pre-filing analysis&comma; research&comma; and client communication management&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;